California. General Rob Bonta issued a clear warning to immigration detention centers across the state on Tuesday and informed them that “significant improvements” were needed to comply with the detention standards enforced by U.S. immigration and customs.

With the California Department of Justice released a 165-page report, all six privately operated detention facilities in the state are inadequate in providing mental health care for detainees. The report records medical record preservation, deficiencies in suicide prevention strategies, and force against detainees with mental health conditions.

When President Trump strengthened his deportation agenda and escalated his showdown with Democratic states and cities on immigration enforcement, Benta said California would not allow review of the facilities conditions of detained immigrants.

“Given the inhumane movement of the Trump administration to eliminate conditions in immigration detention facilities and increase its inhuman mass immigration enforcement campaign, this could exacerbate the key issues already in these facilities, thus allowing them to pack with more people,” Bonta said in a statement. “Given the oversight of the Trump administration to eliminate conditions in immigration detention facilities and increase its inhuman mass immigration enforcement campaign, this could exacerbate the key issues already in these facilities, thereby allowing them to pack with more people,” Bonta said in a statement.

Geo Group, a private company that operates four California immigration detention centers, disputes the report's findings.

"Geo strongly disagrees with these pointless allegations, which are part of a long, politically motivated and radical campaign to attack federal immigration facilities contractors to eliminate ice and end federal immigration detention," a spokesperson for the GEO Group said in a statement.

“This report by the California Attorney General is an unfortunate example of the politicization movement of open border politicians to interfere with the federal government’s efforts to arrest, detain and deport dangerous criminal illegal aliens under established federal laws.”

The report is the agency's fourth review of California's privately operated detention centers as lawmakers passed the 2017 law, Parliament Bill 103, requiring the state Department of Justice to investigate conditions for detention centers until 2027. Previous reports also found that mental health care services were insufficient.

But the report on Monday focused on mental health is at a critical moment when the Trump administration promised to launch the largest deportation program in U.S. history and reduce oversight of the status of such facilities.

Last month, the Department of Homeland Security closed its Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and the Office of Citizenship and Immigration Services, which is tasked with reviewing conditions for detention and responding to complaints of violations of civil rights.

Meanwhile, California facilities hold more people than two years ago, the report noted. There were 3,100 people in the facility in California on April 16. Two years ago, it was 2,303. Of those currently in custody, only four have been identified as criminal records, the report said.

“In the future, an increase in population levels in detention centers will have an impact on the facilities’ ability to provide health care and other detention needs,” the report said.

U.S. immigration and customs law enforcement said in a statement that “there is no reasonable time to fully review” the report’s findings, but “U.S. immigration and customs law enforcement goes all out to promote the promotion of a safe, humane environment for those in our detention, and is very serious.”

“Daily inspections are part of the ICE multi-layer inspection and supervision process to ensure how a facility meets the nursing threshold outlined in the facility contract and the ICE's national detention standards. The spokesperson added that in general, the inspection team provides reports to the organization’s leaders when identifying and initiating corrective actions to determine the organization’s leadership capabilities.

The spokesman added that ICE encourages reporting of complaints from detention facilities about their detention reports and information lines - (888) 351-4024 - to provide free services for trained operators and language assistance.

Talia Inlender, deputy director of the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at the UCLA Law School, said the report raised a “huge red flag” and she was disappointed to see the facility fail on fundamental issues such as record preservation.

"This does highlight the importance of California in providing this oversight, because unfortunately, federal oversight is currently dwindling significantly," Inlender said. "If these issues already exist in our current capabilities, it should be a big red flag if we don't already - the extreme humanitarian crisis on our hands."

To conduct the investigation, California Department of Justice staff worked with a team of corrections and health care experts to study the state’s immigration detention centers to examine a range of lockdown conditions, including the use of force, discipline, access to health care and due process.

The report found that record keeping and maintenance of medical records in all six facilities was insufficient, noting that poor record keeping “especially with regard to the critical nature of the records and the high degree of confidentiality required by these records.”

The report said that in Adelanto and the desert landscape attachment, documents show health care providers entering conflicting diagnoses and prescriptions that do not match the diagnosis. In the Golden State Annex, medical providers have recorded inconsistent, sometimes conflicting, psychiatric diagnosis.

The report said that suicide prevention and intervention strategies were also lacking at each facility, with standard suicide risk assessment not being conducted in the Empire, Golden State Annex and Mesa Verde.

Detainees also face delays in obtaining adequate medical services in most facilities. The report says that in the desert landscape, staff are relaxed in managing infectious diseases, while in Mesa Verde, detainees have experienced prolonged waiting times for critical on-site care.

Investigators found that people with mental health diagnoses had disproportionate use of force. Staff at multiple facilities did not adequately review health records and considered mental health status for ICE care standards before the calculated mandatory incident was conducted.

The report said the facilities typically do not undergo a mental health review required by the ICE detention standards before putting the detainees in solitary confinement. Some people have spent more than a year in isolation – the report says the condition presents an increased risk to people with underlying mental health conditions.

The report picked out the Mesa Verde facility’s pat search policy, a specific reason for the concern. The report said detainees who were beaten at any time said the searches were invasive and inappropriate and said they dissuaded them from accessing medical and mental health services and catering.

Investigators also raised concerns about due process, marking reports that detainees cannot meaningfully attend court hearings because staff did not prescribe them or other necessary treatments.

A GEO spokesman said its support services include “24/7 access to medical services, in-person and virtual legal and family visits, general and law libraries visits, dietitian-approved meals, and special diets and entertainment facilities.” Its services are monitored by ice and other groups within the Department of Homeland Security to ensure strict compliance with ice detention standards.

The spokesman said detainees at the location where GEO provides medical services “strong access with a team of medical professionals” and could access on-site medical specialists, imaging facilities, emergency medical services and local community hospitals when needed.

"The healthcare staffing at Geo's ice processing centers is more than twice as high as in correctional facilities in many states," a spokesperson said.

Inlender said she hopes the report will be a call for action to protect immigration from detention centers in the state. But she also noted that California has a 2020 law, AB 3228, led by Bonta during parliament, which allows people to sue private detention operators in state courts for failing to comply with the standards of care outlined in the facility’s contract.

"Of course, it's an uphill battle, and there are a lot of people who are already in a very vulnerable way to come out and have to bring these suits," Inlender said. "But I do think it's a very important tool of responsibility and I hope it will be used."